Reintegration
by Wedjat
Summary: After her release, an emotionally and physically damaged Chell is taken in by two Aperture Science Reintegration Associates.  It quickly becomes clear to her that in order to be a part of the new world, she must confront her old one.
1. The Last

**A/N: **So, this idea came to me a long time ago and I wrote this blurb…I have a complete story in mind, though I'm not sure how often I'd be updating with school and all. I just thought I'd put this out there and see what everyone thought about it. Enjoy! Let me know if you want to see more.

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><p>At some point it had begun to rain. Nathan hadn't heard the storm arrive; in fact he hadn't even realized that it was pouring until he was standing beneath the dark sky. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked frantically and hot on its tracks was a young woman wearing a long black duster similar to the one that Nathan himself wore.<p>

Nathan surveyed the barren landscape. The golden wheat was doubled over from the force of the wind. In the distance, an abandoned old shack stood out as the single eye sore in an otherwise endless view of serenity. Near the shack Nathan made out the two figures he had been searching for: his dog and his sister.

Nathan took a deep breath and let it out before launching into a sprint. The raindrops blurred his vision and the wind whipped at the skin on his face. He squinted in order to stay focused on the shack as he drew nearer and noticed that there was a third figure lying face down.

It was a petit woman with dark matted hair. Her white tank top and orange jumpsuit were smeared with mud. On her feet was a peculiar pair of boots of which Nathan had never seen the likes of before. Once he was close enough, he dropped to his knees at her side and flipped her onto her back. The front of her shirt was marked with the Aperture Laboratories symbol, earning a curious look from Nathan. He placed two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse and noted with great relief that she was, in fact, Still Alive.

"What's wrong with her?" Nathan's sister Melissa screamed over the roar of the wind.

Nathan pursed his lips. "She seems malnourished."

The dog walked over to the woman and began to lick her face gently. Nathan pushed him away firmly and said, "No, Isaac!"

Isaac sauntered away and sat down at Melissa's feet. The woman stirred slightly, her eyes opening just a crack to meet Nathan's gaze. Confusion and fear immediately showed in her facial expression and Nathan tried to soothe her with a smile.

"It's alright, you're in good hands. You're going to be okay," Nathan reassured the woman. She turned her head toward Melissa, who had bent down to ruffle Isaac's ears, and noticed the bright silver Aperture logo emblazoned across the back of Melissa's coat. The woman's eyes snapped back to Nathan's in alarm.

Nathan shook his head vigorously. "You're going to have to trust us. We are not your enemy."

The woman stared him down for a long moment with a furrowed brow, but the minimal amount of energy she had had left her as quickly as it had come. Her face relaxed and her eyes closed as she once again slipped into unconsciousness.

Nathan scooped her up into his arms and began to head towards the house. Melissa caught his arm and pointed at a peculiar cube sitting close to where the woman had been lying. Nathan shrugged and nodded his head in its direction, indicating to Melissa that she should bring it with them.

Isaac barked with glee and ran in circles around Nathan as he carried the woman towards shelter. Melissa quickly caught up to them with the cube clasped tightly in her arms. She shot a distrusting glance at the woman in Nathan's arms and sighed heavily.

"Why is she alive, Nathan?" She asked with an edge in her voice. "What was so special about her that allowed her to survive when everyone else…?"

Nathan found himself looking down into the woman's face. She seemed like just another average girl. "I honestly don't know," he replied softly.

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><p>In the days that followed Nathan and Melissa's strange discovery in the wheat fields they didn't make much progress with the woman. She was rarely conscious and when she was she didn't say a word. She jumped at the slightest sound and avoided the touch of both Nathan and Melissa whenever possible. The only thing she seemed to respond positively to was Isaac, whom she allowed to lay on the bed with her whenever he wanted.<p>

They tried to feed her, but she refused their offerings. She always watched them with a cynical gaze and examined each meal and drink skeptically. If Nathan didn't know better, he'd think she was expecting them to poison her. The suspicion shouldn't surprise him after he had noticed her staring at Melissa's Aperture jacket, but it was frustrating nevertheless. If she didn't eat or drink, she was going to die.

It was because of this life-threatening situation that Nathan decided to sit down with the woman and tell her straight up exactly who they were and what their role was in Aperture Science. If he didn't, she would never be able to trust them, and they would lose her.

"How are you feeling?" Nathan started off with awkwardly. As expected, the woman just stared at him unblinkingly and didn't give him an answer. He sighed and continued. "I'm going to be frank with you: if you don't eat or drink, you _will _die. That's all there is to it."

The woman's face expressed fear for a moment but she obviously tried to hide it. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had frightened her. This stubbornness only frustrated Nathan further.

"I know you won't touch anything that we serve you unless you know that you can trust us. I understand that, I was just hoping you would be able to sustain consciousness for more than ten minutes before I tried to explain this," Nathan told her politely. She waited silently for him to continue. "Melissa and I are Aperture Science Reintegration Associates."

The woman raised an eyebrow. She seemed to recognize this term somewhat, which was kind of a relief to Nathan. "You see," he continued, "our sole purpose is to reintegrate test subjects into society. Our job is to help you, not harm you. You can trust us."

The woman still seemed skeptical, but she glanced down at the plate of mashed potatoes in front of her and seemed to consider them for a moment. A brief smile flickered across her face as if she had just remembered a joke before she slowly picked up her silverware and placed a spoonful of potatoes in her mouth. Her entire face seemed to light up as she chewed, and before Nathan knew it, she had devoured the entire plate.

Nathan chuckled softly and shook his head. "That's better," he said kindly. He looked back up into her eyes as she took a sip from her glass of water. "What's your name?"

The woman seemed to be perplexed by this question. She frowned in concentration and continued to drink her water. Nathan waited patiently and studied her facial expressions carefully.

After a few minutes, Nathan grew concerned. "Do you _know _your name?" He asked.

The woman looked annoyed at this second question. She nodded and frowned again. After another minute of contemplation, she tapped her throat with her forefinger.

Nathan was shocked as he heard himself speak his next words: "You can't speak." It wasn't a question; this time it was a fact.

Sadness washed over her face as she nodded solemnly. Nathan pitied her. He reached out to touch her hand, but she instantly pulled away and eyed him warily. He sighed, but then he thought of an idea and got up to leave.

He quickly returned with a notebook and a pencil. He handed them to her and then sat down again. She stared at him questioningly.

Nathan smiled. "What's your name?" He asked again.

Realization sparkled in the woman's grey eyes and she turned to a fresh page. As she moved the pencil across the surface, Nathan noted how sloppy her movements were. He felt as if he was watching a child write, and he wondered just how long it had been since she had had the opportunity to use a pencil and paper.

When she was finished, she held up the notebook. Scrawled at the top of the page was the word 'Chell.'

Nathan thought on that for a moment. "Is that pronounced like 'shell'?" He asked curiously.

She shook her head, underlined the 'Ch' in her name multiple times and then wrote the word 'beach.'

Nathan nodded to indicate that he understood. "Chell," he said gently. "Chell. It suits you."

Chell smiled and wrote 'thank you' on the paper before settling back in her pillows. Nathan took that as his cue to leave. Just as he was about to close the door, he turned back to look at her one last time.

"It's nice to meet you, Chell," he said politely.

Chell nodded in agreement and closed her eyes as Nathan stepped out of the room.

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><p>Nathan did not sleep well most nights after Chell's arrival. Her constant thrashing in her sleep normally startled him enough to wake him, and if that didn't do the trick, her eventual yells certainly did. Nathan knew that she had to be dreaming about Aperture, and he could hazard a guess as to <em>whom <em>exactly she was being tormented by.

Nathan's blood turned to ice when he thought about the stories his father had told him about Aperture's downfall. The employees being forced into testing, the neurotoxin, the innocent young girls…it was a terrifying image that Nathan didn't like to think about. Chell, unfortunately, had lived it.

One night he just couldn't take it anymore. Melissa had become very good at tuning her out, but Nathan could not ignore Chell's pain. He had to do something.

When she began her thrashing one night, he went to her bed and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. Still asleep, Chell seemed to see this as some sort of an attack and began to move even more violently. Nathan gave her a firm shake in order to wake her, and finally the movement stopped. Chell opened her eyes and looked up at him with an expression of confusion.

"I think it's time for us to talk about these dreams," Nathan whispered. Chell sighed heavily and nodded reluctantly.

Nathan handed her the notebook and the pencil and waited to see what she did with them. Even though he was expecting a written explanation, he received a detailed drawing.

Despite her childishly sloppy handwriting, Chell's artistic skills were actually quite impressive. She drew a sign with the number '19' written upon it. Next to it was a cake and the cube that Melissa had brought in from the wheat fields.

Nathan stared at the cube. "What is the significance of that cube?"

Chell glanced up at him in surprise before writing the word 'companion' beneath the cube drawing. Though this still left Nathan rather perplexed, he did not interrupt her again.

Chell's expression darkened as she flipped to another page. She drew flames. She drew a strange looking ball with handles and the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Next came the turrets, next to which she wrote phrases such as "There you are!" and "Are you still there?" Finally, by itself on a separate page, she drew _Her_.

Nathan had never seen Her before, but the drawing Chell was making fit the description he had been told time and time again.

"GLaDOS," Nathan said breathlessly, his tone seething with hatred.

Chell flinched at the mention of the AI as she continued. There was more.

Below the drawing of GLaDOS, Chell drew a sole potato. Nathan raised an eyebrow as Chell added surprising detail to the potato before adding wires and a strange circular piece that Nathan didn't recognize. As Chell drew the potato, a peaceful expression settled on her face. There was something about this potato that was important to Chell.

Once she was finished with the potato, she stared at it for a long while. Sadness seemed to creep into her eyes as she examined her drawing. After a few minutes, she took the pencil and violently crossed out the potato.

Nathan jumped back in surprise as she flipped back through her other drawings and drew giant Xs over everything except for the number 19 and GLaDOS. Chell breathed heavily as she stared down at GLaDOS. Nathan had no way of knowing what was going on in her mind.

Nathan placed a hand on Chell's shoulder and she immediately jerked away. He could see that she was fighting to stay strong and to not cry. He looked down at her drawing.

"If you're ever going to get through this and move on, you'll need to confront what happened to you. GLaDOS can't hurt you anymore except for in your mind." Nathan sighed. "You need to find your own way to get past this or you'll never be able to live in this world. If you can't, you'll always be living in Hers."

Nathan got up from the bed and walked towards the door. "Tomorrow Melissa and I are going to go into town to get some things, but the next day we will begin your reintegration. You have many things to learn." He glanced back at her over his shoulder, but she was still staring at her drawing. "Keep in mind what I said, though, or nothing we do will help."


	2. Inane Human Phrases and Trust Issues

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THE NEW DLC, THERE MAY BE A SMALL SPOILER AHEAD. IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT IT BEING SPOILED, BY ALL MEANS, KEEP READING…I JUST THOUGHT I'D TYPE A BIG OBNOXIOUS WARNING IN ALL CAPS JUST IN CASE!**

**A/N: **I used this story as an excuse to procrastinate. Hopefully what I've come up with is worth it, haha. Anyway, enjoy! I'll try not to take too long to update.

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><p>GLaDOS stared down at the nest of birds below her. She couldn't understand it. She had shown them hours upon hours of footage of gruesome human death, but none of it seemed to stimulate their tiny avian brains. The only thing they reacted to was food, which, ironically, consisted of the thousands of potatoes growing in the few test chambers she hadn't restored.<p>

What was it with birds and potatoes?

GLaDOS listened to their melodic chirping and sighed deeply. Maybe they weren't killing machines. That was severely disappointing. Or maybe birds were only potato killing machines.

Thinking about killing machines always brought up memories of one especially successful murderer.

Mindlessly, GLaDOS accessed the personnel file that she often did when she had a free moment. There was never anything new, of course. The employee in question had been dismissed about two weeks earlier.

GLaDOS concentrated on that file. What was it that made that woman so dangerous? What was it about her that made her so successful? She wasn't the most intelligent or the most athletic of the test subjects…in those areas she had earned average scores.

"'Abnormal levels of tenacity,'" GLaDOS read aloud softly. Was that the factor? Could stubbornness truly be the characteristic necessary for a lunatic killing machine?

GLaDOS knew it was more than that. It took a catalyst, an event that ignited the test subject's stubbornness: danger. The threat to the woman's survival was what started it all. She had done everything in order to survive.

GLaDOS turned her attention to the birds again. If a threat were made to their survival, would their instincts prompt them to fight back? It was possible…

_Then again, _GLaDOS thought to herself, _no bird could ever be as lethal as that tenacious mute lunatic…_

GLaDOS chuckled as the birds began to chirp incessantly, begging for more food. _Chell [REDACTED], _she thought to herself, disregarding the birds, _it always comes back to you._

Then GLaDOS came up with her most brilliant plan yet.

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><p>Chell stared at the shack that she had come stumbling out of two weeks before. It seemed as if it had been a lifetime since she had been inside, exploring the bowels of Aperture Science. It seemed as if it had been an eternity since she had faced the queen of her nightmares.<p>

According to the AI, Caroline was gone. If that was true, what Chell was about to do was incredibly foolish.

But she had heard Nathan loud and clear: if she didn't get past what happened, she would always be living in _Her _world. Aperture, whether she was inside it or not, had become her life.

Chell's hand rested on the handle of the shack. The only way she could think of moving on was to confront GLaDOS herself, but if she were to go see the supercomputer, would she ever be able to leave? Chell tensed up at the thought. Was getting over what happened worth the risk of being trapped again?

As if answering her question, her hand wrenched the door open. She had nothing to lose at that point.

Lights immediately turned on as she stepped inside. The lift was still at the top as if it had been waiting for her. She quickly got into it before she could change her mind, and it ushered her downward.

"Welcome, intruder, to Aperture Science. We specialize in interdimensional portal technology, physics defying gels, shower curtains, and neurotoxin."

Chell shuddered and gripped her notebook especially tight.

"In order to introduce you to our facility, a series of demonstrations will be staged. Let's begin with the neurotoxin, shall we?"

As the elevator entered GLaDOS' main chamber, it was already filled with the eerily familiar green gas.

Chell coughed and choked as she tripped into the chamber. The notebook flew out of her hands and landed on the floor, open to one of the pages that Chell had drawn on the night before.

"Oh, it's you."

Chell looked up to see GLaDOS' yellow optic through the haze.

"It has been a long time…actually, no it hasn't. I wasn't expecting you to come back…so soon. It really comes as no surprise that you didn't listen to me, that was to be expected from someone as abnormally stubborn as you."

Much to Chell's relief, GLaDOS halted the neurotoxin flow.

"But why? Everything you did was for _freedom_. Why would you willingly come back to the place you supposedly despi-"

Chell raised an eyebrow as GLaDOS gasped.

"What have you done! You…! This is all your fault!" GLaDOS cried out in alarm.

Chell frowned as she followed GLaDOS' gaze to a box where three young birds lay motionless.

"You _monster_! You've been here for less than five minutes and yet you've managed to murder these birds!"

Before she could stop herself, Chell pointed an accusatory finger at the AI.

"Well if _someone _hadn't surprised me, there would've been no need for the neurotoxin." GLaDOS sighed deeply. "It doesn't matter now. The experiment was a failure anyway. However, if their mother ever finds out what I did…"

Chell shook her head. GLaDOS wasn't a potato anymore, so her fear of birds was extremely irrational.

"Besides, I'm working on a new initiative. Top secret, of course. For employees' ears only, which no longer includes you." GLaDOS paused, her optic traveling down to the notebook that Chell had dropped. "That brings me back to why exactly you've returned," she said thoughtfully as she examined the drawings. "By the way, that drawing of me is _disgraceful_. I don't even know what _that _is."

Chell sighed as she pulled herself up and began to crawl towards the notebook. The neurotoxin had weakened her considerably for the moment.

"Look at you, crawling around, defenseless. There are so many ways that I could kill you right now." GLaDOS chuckled as she watched Chell slowly make her way toward the notebook. "I could smash you with a panel on the ceiling. I could cue up the neurotoxin again." GLaDOS lowered herself so that her optic could stare directly into Chell's eyes. "Do you know why I don't?"

Chell glared at her with a hatred that had become very familiar to her. After a long stare off, Chell merely shrugged her shoulders.

"I need your help."

_What a coincidence, _Chell thought as she reached for the notebook. _I need your help too._

GLaDOS hovered above her in silence, casting a rather large shadow over the former test subject as she scribbled something onto her paper.

'If I scratch your back, will you scratch mine?' the notebook read as Chell held it up for the AI to see.

"Why would I want you to scratch my back? I don't have a back, moreover, I don't have an itch…oh, wait, ha-ha, I guess I do. If you would like to test, then, sure."

Chell shook her head vehemently and began to write again. 'If I do you a favor, will you do one for me?'

"Oh," GLaDOS replied, "your human phrases are ridiculous." She paused for a moment. "What could you possibly want from me?"

Chell was surprised she was getting so far with the normally stubborn AI. 'I just want to be normal.'

GLaDOS broke out into a fit of laughter. "Oh, you were serious," she said in a deadpan voice as her giggles subsided. "There is nothing normal about you. You are the most stubborn individual to ever walk these halls, and that includes Cave Johnson himself. You've spent your entire life in this facility." GLaDOS cocked her head to the side curiously. "And here you are, asking me for help, the AI that tried to kill you. Maybe you're still brain damaged."

Chell sighed and turned her attention back to the notebook. 'That's exactly why you're the only one that can help.'

GLaDOS shook her head. "I'm not following your logic."

Chell flipped to a clean page. 'I need you to come with me. I need to move past everything that happened, or I'll never be able to live my life.'

"And how exactly do you expect me to just drop everything and leave with you?"

Chell flipped back several pages and pointed at a drawing of a potato.

"…Oh you have _got _to be _kidding _me! You don't honestly expect me to _willingly _transfer myself into a potato battery, do you?"

Chell remained adamant.

"No, absolutely not."

Chell went back to her clean page. 'I thought you needed my help? If you help me, I'll help you.'

GLaDOS seemed to consider this for a moment. "No." When Chell's shoulders slumped over in defeat, GLaDOS chuckled softly. "You help me first, _then_, and _only _then, will I help you."

Chell nodded. 'Deal.'

GLaDOS' chuckle darkened. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," she hissed.

Chell's blood turned to ice as one of GLaDOS' arms lowered from a panel in the ceiling. She closed her eyes shut tight as she prepared herself to be taken away to a test chamber.

"What I need you to do for me…" GLaDOS said threateningly, "…is open your mouth."

Chell's eyes snapped open to see a cotton swab clenched in the claw of GLaDOS' arm. She stared at it in confusion. She had fully expected something deadly, but instead…

"Must I repeat myself? I thought it was a simple enough task, but maybe I was wrong…"

Chell furrowed her brow uncomfortably and opened her mouth. GLaDOS quickly swiped the cotton swab on the inside of Chell's cheek and then withdrew her arm into the ceiling.

"All done!" GLaDOS declared, sounding surprisingly cheerful. "Now, before I make myself vulnerable to you, I have a test for you to complete."

Before Chell could protest, the panel she was kneeling on slid out from under her, revealing a long chute. She mentally cursed as she heard GLaDOS cackle like a madwoman above her.

"Oh don't worry. You're in good hands," GLaDOS cooed with mock sweetness.

"We're all friends here, right?"


End file.
